Ecosystems

by

State Goal 12: Understand
the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnection of the life,
physical and earth/space sciences.

Learning Standard
E: Know and apply concepts that describe the features and
processes of the Earth and its resources.

Objective:
Students will be able to understand ecosystems
and their
importance to the Earth and the living things that inhabit the
Earth.

Have you ever heard the
word,
ecosystem?
Also called biomes, these regions of land make up the
Earth's surface. All of the Earth's surface, with the exception of
the ice in Antarctica and Greenland, fits into one of these
ecosystems. But what is an ecosystem?

An ecosystem is a region of land that has its own
unique climate
and life. The amount of rainfall, temperature and sunlight makes each
region the way it is. Each biome is filled with plants and animals
that have adapted to that land. All together, the land and its life
is called an ecosystem.

There are eight biomes in the world, and each one is
different
than the other. The first one is the ocean. This biome is the largest
of all, since water makes up most of the planet. Rainforests are
unique areas where strange animals thrive in the warm, wet climate.
Colder areas that receive enough rain will see temperate forests
form. If there isn't enough rainfall, grasslands will fill the
region.

Dry, hot regions will become desert, while the frigid
cold regions
of northern North America and Asia are called tundra. Taiga is the
named given to land in between the cold tundra and the warmer
temperate forest and grassland biomes. And finally, a very small
amount of land in Europe and Australia is called Chaparral.

Ecosystems
vary in size. They can be as small as a puddle or as large as the
Earth itself. Any group of living and nonliving things interacting
with each other can be considered as an ecosystem.

In lesson 1,
students will be able to investigate an ecosystem in their own school
yard!

Directions: Click
on the above so that you can prepare for outdoor excursion!

The energy cycle within
biomes,
habitats, and ecosystems determines which populations survive and which
die. All living things need energy. Ultimately, the sun is the source
of all energy in an ecosystem. Different species have different
functions: producers, consumers, decomposers, and scavengers.